Author: Editorial Staff

NIGERIA has signed financing deals with oil majors Shell and Chevron to develop projects that would boost reserves and revenue, the state-run oil firm said early August. ‘Two sets of alternative financing agreements on joint venture (JV) projects to boost reserves and production in line with government’s aspiration were executed in London,’ said a statement by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja. ‘The two projects are expected to generate incremental revenues of about $16bn within the assets’ lifecycle, including a flurry of exploratory activities that would generate employment opportunities in the industry, [and] boost gas supply to…

FOUR out of ten international tourists in Africa come from the continent itself, according to the new UNCTAD Economic Development in Africa Report 2017: Tourism for Transformative and Inclusive Growth. In sub-Saharan Africa, this number increases to two out of every three tourists whose travels originate on the continent. Data backing this key finding show that, contrary to perception, Africans themselves are increasingly driving tourism demand in Africa. Tourism in Africa is a flourishing industry that supports more than 21 million jobs, or 1 in 14 jobs, on the continent. Over the last two decades, Africa has recorded robust growth,…

AN expansion in air connections, including low-cost routes, is expected to help sustain Tanzania’s growth in visitor numbers and strengthen its tourism sector. The UAE-based low-cost carrier flydubai announced in June that from late October it will launch six flights per week between the UAE and Kilimanjaro, the site of Africa’s tallest peak. The airline already operates services to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, and has plans to increase the number of direct flights to the latter from three per week to eight. ‘With the addition of the service to Kilimanjaro and more direct flights to Zanzibar, flydubai will operate…

KENYA’S leading communications company, Safaricom, has released a feature-rich M-PESA Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) portal to businesses in the country. Dubbed Daraja, the portal will enable businesses to easily integrate with M-PESA, drastically cutting down the more than 60 days it took businesses to link to M-PESA. Through Daraja, businesses can now seamlessly integrate both Lipa Na M-PESA BuyGoods and PayBill cashless payments into mobile phone applications, websites, point of sale terminals and other business solutions. As a result, businesses across the country will be in a better position to take advantage of the growing e-commerce trend. ‘M-PESA provides a…

COMPELLING Mozilla-backed research carried out by Research ICT Africa, finds that significant barriers to internet access remains in four African countries – Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The research aims to understand, from a comparative perspective, how the citizens use the internet when data is subsidised and when it is not. Knowing that affordability is one of the primary barriers to Internet access and particular optimal use, the main objective of the focus groups was to obtain qualitative information that reflects the perceptions of female and male Internet users, new users, and non-Internet users from urban and rural locations…

TIGO Tanzania has announced a massive drive to further modernise its network infrastructure. The telecom operator, which bills itself as a digital lifestyle mobile firm, will endeavour to increase its coverage footprint and service quality. ‘Since last year, we have made massive expansion of our infrastructure to increase the coverage footprint and capacity and most importantly, the quality of experience for mobile broadband service,’ Tigo’s chief technical and information officer, Jérôme Albou, said while speaking to senior editors at a briefing held at the company’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam recently. Spelling out the company’s network upgrade plans, Albou explained…

AFTER the successful implementation of an intelligent new safety feature was introduced to Uber driver-partners in South Africa early this year, the company has announced that the same feature will be implemented in other markets in Africa. Uber has begun this African roll out of its Real-Time ID in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya in a bid to further improve passenger security. The technology works by prompting driver-partners to periodically share a selfie in the app before going online and accepting rides. Uber then compares this photo to the one corresponding to the account on file. This feature works on facial…

THE decision by Trial Chamber 1 of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to continue to detain the former president of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, was littered with errors, the Appeals Chamber has said in a judgement, and has ordered a review of the matter. Gbagbo and his former Youth Minister, Charles Blé Goudé, are accused of four counts of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 2010/2011 post-election violence in the country. Hostilities flared up after the presidential election result was disputed by supporters of the incumbent, Gbagbo, and his opponent, current President Alassane Ouattara. In March…

A Zimbabwean farmers’ union leader has warned white South African farmers they should agree on a deal to share land with the black majority before they suffer the same fate as neighbours in Zimbabwe, who were violently removed from their properties. Land redistribution is a burning political issue in South Africa and has divided the ANC ahead of the December conference where President Jacob Zuma’s successor as party leader will be chosen. Many Zuma supporters are demanding land expropriation from whites without compensation, while the radical EFF has told South Africans to occupy unused land illegally. Although Zuma has said…

ANGOLA’S parliament has passed a law that will drastically limit the powers of the country’s future presidents in matters of security and defence. The law will only apply to successors of the current head of state, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has enjoyed unfettered control of Angola’s sprawling military and security institutions since taking power in 1979. Supported by a large majority of lawmakers, the new bill sets out limited circumstances in which the powerful officials can be removed — including instances of criminal behaviour and old age. The heads of the army and police and intelligence services will…